Bells and Berlioz
Ringing with the Grossmont Symphony Orchestra
By Roy Attridge

 

The director of the Grossmont Symphony Orchestra sat on my couch, a variety of bells and chimes around, as matters of overtones and availabilities were conversed upon.  The Orchestra was in rehearsals of Hector Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique, an ambitious undertaking for the musicians of Grossmont College.  The work calls for 3½ octaves of orchestral chimes – a range that few orchestras possess.

 

The most widely-known movement in the piece is the 4th (March to the Scaffold) in which the subject of the Symphonie goes and loses his head (in a dramatic orchestral HIT, followed by 3 plucks on the strings as it goes plop-plop-plop, with a big TA-DA! at the end).  Following this, comes the 5th movement (Dream of a Witch’s Sabbath), where he finds himself at his own funeral, attended by all manner of demons and monsters. 

 

This is where the bells come in.  As the low strings and brass taunt with the Dies Irae, a death-knell rings from the steeple of a nearby church – C – C – G…. In the score, the composer instructs that should chimes not be available, the part is to be played on piano.  As can be imagined, this would be “entirely unsatisfying!”  In searching for an alternative, Dr. Tweed was steered toward the San Diego Harmony Ringers by a colleague.  What better to create the sound of bells… than bells!

 

Instruments and ringer were available, so I found myself schlepping C5, G4, C4, G3, C3 – and a G2 chime (no bell that big was to be found anywhere in San Diego – and thank goodness for Schulmerich’s new Ring’n’Roll cases!) off to rehearsal at Grossmont College.  It was desired to have the Orchestra’s percussion section involved in the bells, so I was given exactly 15 minutes (!) to educate two enthusiastic young musicians the fine art of ringing handbells… one of whom was heard to mutter, “its harder to do this than I thought it would be.”  From a towel-covered desk in the back of the rehearsal room (note to self – add a bell table to the “schlep” list…) pealed the glorious and slightly arpeggiated sounds of death.

 

Through several more rehearsals, continued practice and admonitions of “watch the director,” we were able to come to a point of (almost) cohesion.  Performance days arrived which found us at two very different but wonderful venues – April 13th at Point Loma Nazarene University, and April 18th at the new concert hall at Mira Costa College in Oceanside.  In this hall, we were the “guinea pig” orchestra for the staff to play with acoustics by adjusting sets of drapes around the space and moving the enormous acoustical ceiling.  San Diego Symphony Music Director JahJa Ling was in attendance, and enjoyed the performance!

 

So what to do during the other 40 minutes of this piece when not ringing?  It is one thing to “go to the symphony” and listen.  It is another thing entirely to be amongst the musicians, a score in-hand, immersed in the music, watching it on paper as it happens all around.  This is surround sound at its finest!  I left this experience with a new appreciation for how much work a symphonic piece takes to perform (getting 14 ringers on the same page is hard enough – imagine 70!) and Dr. Tweed left it with a copy of Kevin McChesney’s Ring of Fire… to be continued?